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The Detroit Lions placed return man Jamal Agnew on injured reserve Monday, though head coach Matt Patricia stopped short of saying Agnew's season is over.

Agnew injured his left knee in the Lions' Week 5 win over the Green Bay Packers. Asked Monday if Agnew required season-ending surgery, Patricia said the Lions still are "going through the process right now to evaluate him."

"That’s the good thing about that kind of designation is we have options if we get to that point where we can expedite him and use him and try to do that," Patricia said. "But it’s just a matter of time right now."

At a minimum, Agnew, who was initially feared to have torn his ACL, will miss eight games for the 2-3 Lions.

NFL teams are allowed to designate two players to return from injured reserve each season, and any player designated for return must sit out at least six weeks before returning to practice.

Agnew was an all-pro return man as a rookie and saw his role expand this season to include slot cornerback duty in many of the Lions' sub defensive packages.

Jones has played sparingly as the Lions' fourth receiver this year, but has returned both kicks and punts in the past. Abdullah has been inactive for four of the Lions' five games, and Powell has not yet played this season.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Brandon Powell (1) runs against the New York Giants during the second half of the preseason game at Ford Field in Detroit, Friday, August 17, 2018.(Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

The Lions would have to create a spot on their 46-man gameday roster to use either Abdullah or Powell as their primary return man.

"We've got some guys on this team that definitely can fill that role and are going to have to step up and we’ll have to do the best we can to make sure that they’re as productive as possible," Patricia said. "He’s obviously a very valuable player to our team, really can do a great job of turning field position, does a great job when he’s out there at gunner, plays defense. Pretty multiple, versatile player for us, but that’s the nature of the game. Guys are going to have to step up and kind of fill those roles, whether it’s one person or multiple guys. We’ll just try to put the best guy out there that we can."